1st X1  v  Reman Services 28th June 2008               

Madeley's woes continued this week with another defeat which was more or less presented to the opposition.
 
The skipper won the toss and decided to field first. This looked a good decision as there was plenty of life in the wicket and both openers were back in the pavilion with only 15 on the board. With more tight bowling the score crawled along and had only reached 63 off 32 overs. However this is where the wheels started to come off and Reman managed to push on and take their score to 161 - 7 at the end of the 50 overs.
 
In reply Andy Lloyd fell early but then Steve Jones and Steve Pugh looked as if they could build a substantial partnership. Jonah stroked a couple of majestic fours but then in trying to drive another got an edge and was well caught in the slips. With John Fawcett falling cheaply the score was 57 - 3 with the game in the balance. At this point Wendell Wagner was replaced by Chris Speake who immediately had 21 taken off his first over by Statto. Unfortunately this forced the Reman skipper to recall Wagner. Madeley had reached 92 - 3 off only 17 overs and were in a good position. With sensible batting surely we could manage another 70 runs off 33 overs. Not a chance. Verbal flayed at one outside the off stump and was well caught in the slips. The bowler then gave Dinesh the 'coordinates' of the man standing on the boundary at cow corner. 'Dishy' got it spot on, the fielder taking the catch to stop the ball going down his throat. Jason Willets soon followed flashing outside his off stump.

Statto was still at the other end so we still had a bit of a chance but then he went to a somewhat dubious decision. He dug out a yorker the ball hitting bat and the side of his foot and the umpire decided that the ball hadn't touched the ground. No cameras or third umpires here so Steve had to go.

Five wickets had fallen for 6 runs. The skipper and Boss both went quickly and it was left to Andy Pugh and Jamie Lloyd to score 60 for the last wicket. A couple of straight drive boundaries from Andy and a cover drive from Jamie raised some hopes but the impossible was not about to happen and we were all out for 116.

A very disappointing result to a game which was eminently winnable. At 92 - 3 we needed to occupy the crease and see off their main bowler. Reman were on the ropes, their skipper was put in a position where he had to bring back Wagner just one over after giving him a rest. Play out another 20 overs, take the score to 120 - 130 but keep wickets in hand. Not to be I'm afraid, a bit of nouse didn't happen.

All ten wickets were out to catches. An unusual stat but one that probably says it all.